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Humans were living near West Papua at least 55,000 years ago, study finds

Live Science
Summary
Nutrition label

82% Informative

Archaeologists have found evidence seafarers travelled along the equator to reach islands off West Papua more than 50 millennia ago .

Archaeological fieldwork on Waigeo Island in the Raja Ampat archipelago of West Papua represents the first major international collaboration of its kind.

Excavation uncovered several layers of human occupation associated with stone artefacts, animal bones and shells.

Charting the archaeology of West Papua is vital because it helps us understand where the ancestors of the wider Pacific came from.

Their descendants later voyaged as far as Hawaii , Rapa Nui and Aotearoa .

The ways that humans responded to a changing climate and environment in the deep past can provide important insights about our species' adaptive abilities.

VR Score

93

Informative language

97

Neutral language

52

Article tone

formal

Language

English

Language complexity

66

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

long-living